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An arsenal where 12 mines exploded Nov. 7 was operating as a wholesale military parts store, selling mine stabilizers illegally, according to the Pacific Fleet prosecutor investigating the case.

In the weeks since the explosion, investigators have painted a bizarre picture of the munitions storehouse. Not only did it deal in mine parts, but it also was home to a banya built by a private company for its director and the base’s rear admiral.

Since October, a captain in the unit has allegedly been stealing the stabilizers and selling them to a businessman who had formerly been based there. With the help of a friend, they borrowed a truck and stole 627 stabilizers worth an estimated 156 million rubles ($26,344), investigators said. The stabilizers, one of the components of the explosives, are made of aluminum and much in demand on the black market.

When the entrepreneurs told the lieutenant colonel assigned to the base, he joined in their scheme rather than punishing the men, according to the prosecutor’s office. The explosions may have been the result of a lack of control over the military unit, and of unauthorized visitors wandering the site, investigators said.

Rear Admiral Alexei Kavun, head of the mine-torpedo department, said he was not at fault.

"I don’t think I am the one who is responsible for the explosion," he said. "There weren’t breaches in the storage or use of the facility that might have led to the explosion."

However, every Tuesday and Friday, Kavun and the general director of Vostokinveststroy Ltd. visited their banya on the territory. This Russian-style sauna was built with fleet money, and a unit sailor guards it and prepares the firewood.

The banya isn’t the only place where the general has been utilizing sailors from the unit for his own purposes. They have been renovating Kavun’s apartment. He had recently been appointed in Vladivostok, and though he had an apartment in Moscow, he lacked one here. The fleet found him a place, and Kavun ordered a warrant officer and three sailors to completely remodel the rooms.

Yet the unit lacked experienced sailors to guard the mine storage facility. Three armed women were guarding the site at the time the explosion went off. The arsenal is now guarded by sailors.

"The sailors guarding the storage facility are exhausted," said unit spokesman Yevgeny Konochenko. "They don’t sleep enough."

But he added, "We won’t let any new accidents happen."